Sudanese refugees suffer isolation and discrimination

Updated
November 26, 2012 15:52:00

A new report has found the majority of refugees from Sudan who arrived in Australia over the last decade want to return home. The survey of more than 350 refugees found that many reported being discriminated against, particularly over employment and housing.

ELEANOR HALL: A new study has found the majority of refugees from Sudan who arrived in Australia over the last decade want to return home.

The survey of more than 350 refugees found that many reported being discriminated against, particularly over employment and housing.

Lindy Kerin has our report.

LINDY KERIN: Nyok Gor is one of around 23,000 Sudanese refugees who fled to Australia over the past decade.

NYOK GOR: I first came to Australia late 2003 and I came as one of the young people known as lost boys from Sudan.

LINDY KERIN: Nyok Gor began studying at university, but found it difficult to get work and accommodation.

NYOK GOR: While I was looking for accommodation, that was one of the areas that I felt discriminated, as a student I was looking for share accommodation and somebody would be calling to organise, you know, some of the houses that I was interested to apply for, and when I turn up later would tell me sorry we don't have enough room.

And there were other cases where somebody would ask me over the phone what background do you come from and I would say, you know, an African background and they would say no sorry we don't have available room for you.

LINDY KERIN: According to a new study, that sort of discrimination is a common problem among Sudanese refugees. The international policy research group, STATT surveyed more than 350 people. STATT's researcher is Robert Onus.

ROBERT ONUS: In terms of when they first arrived most people found they had very good support from the government and found quite a lot of support moving in or settling in Australia. I think the two main issues are people in regional areas felt quite a bit of isolation, particularly because the people that were settled in regional areas didn't have access to some of the support networks that people in bigger cities would have with the larger communities.

And I think the other thing is definitely with regards to employment, a lot of people have worked hard to get skills, develop their skills in Australia, they've done education in Australia but they can't seem to get jobs in areas that they feel that they're skilled at working in.

LINDY KERIN: And what was the feeling about why that was the case?

ROBERT ONUS: There seems to be a few factors involved I think. One of them is definitely a perception of discrimination on behalf of employers against people of African origin or South Sudanese people in particular.

But on the other hand I think it's the question of getting skills in the, job skills in the Australian market, a lot of people don't have the resume that local people might have or people that have been in Australia for a longer time might have.

LINDY KERIN: The study released today has also found that since South Sudan gained independence, many people want to return home.

ROBERT ONUS: About 90 per cent of people had signalled that they would be intending to return. That includes both temporarily and permanently. When it comes to more permanent return, people had a range of opinions about how long they would go and for what reasons.

There were some people for work, some for visiting family, but when we started the research we thought that a lot of people might want to return because of these negative feelings of discrimination or things related to their situation in Australia but in fact, that wasn't the case at all, it was very much a question of going home to support the development of their new nation and there's really a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm in the community towards helping the South Sudanese nation develop and repatriating the skills that they've gained here.